Gonzo

Bill Cardoso, the man who best defined Hunter S. Thompson's work, has died.

Both Mr. Thompson, who died last year, and Mr. Cardoso said "gonzo" sprang to life after Mr. Cardoso read Mr. Thompson's article about the Kentucky Derby in Scanlon's Monthly in June 1970. The article, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," bristled with the raw disorder, odd humor and piercing insight that became Mr. Thompson's trademarks.

Mr. Cardoso, who was the editor of The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine at the time, wrote Mr. Thompson a letter, saying he had scored a stunning breakthrough.

"This is it, this is pure Gonzo," Mr. Cardoso wrote, using a capital G. "If this is a start, keep rolling."

Ralph Steadman, the illustrator who worked with Mr. Thompson, said in an interview that Mr. Thompson immediately took to the term: "He said, 'O.K., that's what I do. Gonzo.' "

Mr. Steadman theorized why. "It was a strangely goofy word," he said. "Things are strangely gonzatic."

The next year, the following appeared in Mr. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas": "Free Enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Alger gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. Do it now: pure Gonzo journalism."

A new breed of subjective journalism was christened. The idea was that a bizarre, highly personalized grapple with a situation led to truth. If drugs did not help — a minority view — they unarguably made the journey more colorful and the resulting journalism more marketable.

Can't speak to the "marketable" aspect, but more colorful, indeed.